OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- The Oklahoma House of Representatives decisively defeated a measure that would have increased decal fees by 50% on all types of coin-operated machines. Oklahoma's House Bill 2359 was aimed at full-line and bulk vending equipment, amusement machines and jukeboxes, among other devices with coin activation mechanisms.

On coin-operated music and games equipment, for example, the fee would have been increased from $75 to $112.50; on vending machines that require a coin or other thing of value (such as a bill), the fee would have jumped from $75 to $100. For a coin-op bulk vending machine, described in the bill as a device "that dispenses one or more products through more than one but not more than five distribution mechanisms," the decal fee would have been raised from $15 to $22.50.

Legislators arguing against the vending tax measure were Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-Oklahoma City), a first-term state lawmaker, and Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), who recently said that the Legislature was attempting to "shake down the vending industry" as part of a "disastrous revenue grab."

House Bill 2359 would have generated an extra $1.28 million for the state treasury, the Oklahoma Tax Commission calculated.